A spooky blood-red supermoon fascinated stargazers across Macclesfield.
Moon-spotters across the globe captured images of the rare phenomenon when a larger-than-average ‘supermoon’ coincided with a lunar eclipse. And keen astronomers in Macclesfield were among them, snapping the strange celestial event on cameras and smartphones.
It started around 2am on Monday when the full moon was at its closest point to the Earth and appeared bright white, called a supermoon. Then there was a lunar eclipse which happens when the moon, Earth and sun are in a straight line. The Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon and casts a shadow on it.
The Moon went red for a couple of hours because of the reflection of sunlight on the earth’s atmosphere, prompting its name a ‘blood moon’.
This last happened in 1982 and will not be repeated until 2033.
Ellie Browne, of Bollinbrook, Macclesfield, took a picture after waking up at 3am.
She said: “I stayed awake until 3.40am when it was halfway through. It was beautiful to experience, a nice moment of reflection and quiet contemplation.”
